Odisha Election: BJP MLA Breaks EVM, Attacks Polling Officer. Voter Turnout Reaches Nearly 61%

<p>Bhubaneswar, May 25 (PTI) A sitting MLA and BJP candidate allegedly broke an EVM and attacked a polling officer inside a booth during voting in Odisha which recorded a voter turnout of over 60.97 per cent in six Lok Sabha seats and 42 assembly segments, officials said.</p> <p>Two persons - a woman polling officer and a polling agent - died during voting in different booths in Barabati-Cuttack and Hindol assembly segments. An elderly woman voter who fell ill inside a polling booth in Nayagarh assembly seat died in a hospital, officials said.</p> <p>BJP&rsquo;s Khurda assembly segment candidate Prasant Jagdev, who is the sitting MLA of Chilika, was detained for allegedly barging into the booth along with his followers, breaking an EVM and assaulting a polling officer injuring him seriously.</p> <p>Officials said the incident followed an altercation inside a booth in Begunia assembly segment, where he had gone to cast his vote.</p> <p>Jagdev, who joined BJP after being expelled from BJD, later staged a dharna in a police station against his "illegal detention".</p> <p>The ruling BJD also lodged a complaint against the BJP nominee with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) NB Dhal. &ldquo;We maintain zero tolerance to violence. Appropriate action will be taken based on the CCTV footage," Dhal said.</p> <p>The BJP also demanded the arrest of BJD&rsquo;s Chhendipada MLA Sushant Behera accusing him of attacking saffron party workers during voting.</p> <p>The CEO's office also received reports of several other minor incidents of unrest from Brahmagiri, Athagarh and some other places, officials said.</p> <p>Voting was held in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri parliamentary constituencies along with 42 assembly segments within the jurisdiction of these Lok Sabha seats.</p> <p>There were 64 candidates in the fray for the six Lok Sabha seats while the number of nominees for 42 assembly segments was 383.</p> <p>The prominent candidates whose fates have been sealed in the EVM included Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP's Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and the party's national spokesperson Sambit Patra.</p> <p>Four Odisha ministers - RP Swain, Prafulla Mallick, Basanti Hembram and Ashok Panda - are also in the fray.</p> <p>Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik walked all along to the Aerodrome Upper Primary School near his residence here to cast his vote. "We will form a stable government in the state," he told reporters.</p> <p>Around 60.97 per cent of the over 94.48 lakh electorate exercised their franchise, officials said adding that the figure could rise.</p> <p>In Bhubaneswar, a woman on oxygen support demonstrated her commitment by casting her vote at a polling booth while in Puri, a 97-year-old man protested after not finding his name in the voters' list by lying down inside a booth.</p> <p>A large number of people expressed frustration over EC's curbs on carrying mobile phones to polling booths. Some even returned home without casting their votes over restrictions on using phones.</p> <p>Responding to it, Dhal in a statement said, "Since mobile phones are not allowed inside the booth, people can deposit it at a designated spot up outside booths and collect it after voting." As many as 35,000 security personnel including 121 companies of central forces have been deployed in different booths.</p> <p>Chief Secretary P K Jena, DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi and many other senior leaders including BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda also cast their votes in different booths of Bhubaneswar.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</span></em></p>

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